1 Slater
then Tomkins, Inglis, Barba, then Stewart (it's Slater and then a whole stack of amazing players with not much between the next 3 I reckon, although the last time I suggested there were any flaws at all in Inglis and Barba's games I was subjected to a somewhat disproportionate response!)

So no-one has picked either of the two dominant players in our game - Sam and Kev (with apologies to Lee and James) - a damning indictment of our comp.

Er I had 3 England players in the World 13 which isn't bad. And a couple of the NRL's most dominant players in Carney and Barba didn't fair too well either. Not sure missing out Sam and Kev is exactly a damning verdict of our comp, but I admit there is no way if ignoring that Oz do have perhaps 4 times as many good players as we do.

Seven players - Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Ryan Hall, Johnathan Thurston, James Graham, Cameron Smith and Paul Gallen - retain their places in the annual Rugby League World XIII which is chosen every year by the game's worldwide media. Brett Morris and Sam Burgess are selected again after absences of three and two years respectively, and a quartet of World XIII debutants in Josh Morris, Cooper Cronk, Sam Kasiano and Nate Myles make up the selection.

In addition to the World XIII, the new issue of Rugby League World Magazine on sale now carries the full World Ratings, listing the top five ranked players in each position.

Editor John Drake explained: “Every year we invite members of the print and broadcast media across the Rugby League playing world to vote for our World XIII and this year’s ultimate line-up is as formidable as any.

“While NRL based Englishmen James Graham and Sam Burgess made the final cut, along with Ryan Hall who emerged as the runaway leader in the voting for a wing position, four other Super League players only just missed out too. Wigan duo Sam Tomkins at fullback and Sean O’Loughlin at loose forward, plus England captain Kevin Sinfield at stand off and James Roby at hooker all ranked second in their positions in the overall World Ratings, making it one of the strongest showings by English players in years.

If Sam and Kev played in the NRL and Slater and Thurston played in SL I'd still have Slater and Thurston in my World XIII. It's the standard of the individual player not the competition.

I take it then that you would contest then, that the competition (NRL) helps to bring out the standards that these individual players attain?

PS: I would doubt that (A) Sam Tomkins would hold down a F/Back spot in the NRL currently, that is until his high ball taking improved immensly, and ( please give me an indication of where Kevin Sinfield would take the place of any S/O , S/H or L/F in the NRL? I am not being critical for the sake of being so, simply asking a reasonable pair of questions.

Saying Tomkins wouldn't hold down a fb spot in the NRL isn't true. Fair enough with the Sinfield comment but Tomkins would. He's not as bad under the high ball as people make out, he's just had 2 cock ups in big games. But then again Slater didn't make any cock ups in big games last season did he.